Mississippi River Policy Forum

Mississippi River Policy Forum
August 13, 2009
Lewis and Clark Community College

The Visions of a Sustainable Mississippi River Conference will allow a diverse collection of stakeholders to participate in meetings, presentations, and workshops, culminating on the final day in a policy forum.  Hosted by the Honorable Congressman Jerry Costello, the policy forum will provide the opportunity for consensus-based recommendations to be delivered to a group of federal, state, and congressional officials who craft policy that affects the Mississippi River and its surrounding communities.

The policy officials are being invited because of their key roles in shaping policy for stewardship of the Mississippi River.  The intent of the policy forum, a signature feature of the conference, is to provide these officials with tangible and realistic proposals that will aide them in their efforts to address many of the major issues facing those who live and work on the Mississippi River everyday.

Invited officials include (but are not limited to) Brigadier General Michael Walsh and the Mississippi River Commission, a group of Senate confirmed Presidential nominees committed to sustainable management of the river; Nancy Sutley, Chair of the Council on Environmental Quality; Illinois Governor Patrick Quinn, Chair of the Illinois River Coordinating Council; Representative Norman Dicks, Chair of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on the Interior and Environment; Senator Byron Dorgan, Chair of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development; Ken Salazar, Secretary of the Interior; Ray LaHood, Secretary of Transportation; Dave White, Chief of the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service; and Dr. Suzette Kimball, Acting Director of the US Geological Survey.